Leader

Community labour

The harvest of this autumn’s budget session is now complete. The good
news is that university funding will increase. The index increment, which
is important, will return, and 40 million euros will be added to the basic
funding. On the other hand, the issue of funding for lifelong learning remains
unresolved. Moreover, funding has not been presented for increasing
admission quotas, which is important for increasing educational levels.
In any case, it does seem that in 2020, it is possible to eat more than
just bark bread at universities. Big investments are not possible, but let’s
develop Finland with a positive vibe.

The funding increase did not happen all by itself. The unions of science
and education worked for a long time to achieve an increase in funding.
The Finnish Union of University Professors, The Finnish Union of University
Researchers and Teachers and The Union for University Teachers and
Researchers in Finland (YLL) started discussions with politicians already
over a year ago. Universities Finland UNIFI, The Rectors’ Conference of
Finnish Universities of Applied Sciences Arene and the Finnish Education
Employers (FEE) have also been active in the discussions.

An important perspective to the discussions was provided by the National
Union of University Students in Finland SYL and the University of
Applied Sciences Students in Finland SAMOK. We must also not forget
the active participation and connections in the discussions by the universities
and research institutes and particularly their personnel. Thanks
to everyone for the cooperation, which is sure to continue and become
more intensive in many respects.

Politicians from all parties, for their part, must be thanked for their true
preparedness for discussion. During the autumn of 2018 and the spring of
2019, the activities of the science community began to channel into a common message. Our reasoning was visible in the parties’
election platforms and some of it also ended up in the
government platform. The first budget session turned
into a real suspense story. The thriller was constructed
from the different proposals of the Ministry of Education
and Culture and the Ministry of Finance. In the first one,
the increase of universities’ basic funding was 40 million
and in the second one only 10 million euros. Fortunately,
the first one came true and for this the government
and the Minister of Science and Culture deserve thanks.

As important as the government budget is for us at
universities and research institutes, the research and
development activities and higher teaching in Finland
also need to be evaluated as a whole. A solution for the
funding of lifelong learning still does not exist. The idea
that universities would just teach more is impossible.
This would mean that university employees would
fund the increase of the amount of education. On the
other hand, the idea that teaching materials would just
be distributed to larger audiences for free is equally
impossible. Creators have their rights and materials are
generally the property of their creators.

Additionally, the funding of research and development
is lacking in Finland in comparison to our
important partners. According to Statistics Finland’s
advance information for 2018, the public and private
R&D investments in Finland have dropped to 2.70 percent
of the gross domestic product. It seems, then, that
the aim of raising R&D investments to four percent of
the gross domestic product, which is widely accepted
on a parliamentary level, is escaping from the get-go.
Of course this is partly explained by the increase of the
gross domestic product.

The state alone cannot increase research funding so
much that we would catch up with, for example, Sweden,
where investments to R&D activities are about
1600 euros per inhabitant according to Eurostat. In
Finland we spend 500 euros less per each inhabitant.
The difference is so big that I would like to see someone
who is acquainted with the topic investigating
the causes of the difference. Clearly, in Finland there
are not enough investments in research and development.
The causes need to be recognised and eliminated
quickly.

The past year has been a time of intensive, joint
influencing for the university and research institute
communities. This is also the 50th anniversary of The
Finnish Union of University Professors. The Finnish
Union of University Professors does not only lobby
for the interests of its members, but it also develops
the freedom and prerequisites of the research and the
higher teaching that is based on it that is done in universities
and research institutes. During this anniversary
year, it has been especially rewarding to do this
community labour together with good partners.

Jouni Kivistö-Rahnasto
Chair, The Finnish Union of
University Professors